Source: Business Insider,NY Times

President Donald Trump considered using the National Guard to protect the crowd of his supporters who went on to ransack the US Capitol, according to The New York Times.

Citing his advisers, the Times said that Trump considered making the National Guard available to protect his supporters from counterprotesters.

The outlet said the idea, which he ultimately did not see through, came before Wednesday's events unfolded.

What began as a rally for supporters near the White House evolved into an invasion of the US Capitol, repudiated worldwide, which sparked a new crisis in the last days of Trump's presidency.

Read more: https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-mulled-using-national-guard-to-protect-capitol-protesters-nyt-2021-1

This is old (2018) but still relevant.

"Don't call them trolls. Trolls are people who try and get a reaction by saying inflammatory things. Call them disinformation agents."

I first became aware of her during the first hearings into the Russia debacle.
Trump should be afraid.
Great choice!

Source: BBC

Smoke from the massive bushfires in Australia will soon circle the Earth back to the nation, says Nasa.

Massive infernos have raged along the nation's east coast for months, pushing smoke across the Pacific.

Nasa said plumes from blazes around New Year's Day had crossed South America, turning skies there hazy, and moved "halfway around Earth" by 8 January.

"The smoke is expected to make at least one full circuit around the globe," the US space agency said.

Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-51101049

Thank you for your ongoing diligence, tenacity, and efforts to spread awareness of this problem.

Results of a recent research project into media coverage:

"Media outlets reporting on climate change will bring in deniers in an effort to "balance" coverage and present an alternative view. However, to viewers, this then places them—often a person with no scientific background—on the same level as someone who is an expert in the field..."

"It's not just false balance; the numbers show that the media are 'balancing' experts—who represent the overwhelming majority of reputable scientists—with the views of a relative handful of non-experts," study author Professor LeRoy Westerling said in a statement. "Most of the contrarians are not scientists, and the ones who are have very thin credentials. They are not in the same league with top scientists. They aren't even in the league of the average career climate scientist."

Full report:
https://www.newsweek.com/media-air-time-climate-change-deniers-scientists-1454498

"Just after Category 5 Hurricane Dorian stalled over the Grand Bahamas and Abaco Islands for 1.5 days, with 185 mph sustained winds (225 mph gusts) and a storm surge covering 2/3 of the islands, with up to 25 foot deep seawater, the world media reported an absurd death toll of exactly 5 people. Over the next 10 days their insane number climbed to 7, 10, 20, ..., 45. What really happened? I estimate a death toll of up to 40,000 people; over 10% of the countries population. Most of these people were likely washed out to sea by the massive storm surge, never to be seen again."


Paul Beckwith is a professor at University of Toronto and a climate researcher.

https://earther.gizmodo.com/dnc-votes-222-137-against-allowing-candidates-to-partic-1837543829



Democratic National Committee delegates in San Francisco voted against allowing candidates to participate in a primary debate focused on climate change, per the Mercury News, in a contentious 222-137 vote that comes amid ongoing devastation in the Amazon rainforest and growing evidence that scientists have underestimated the pace at which the world is warming.

Top DNC officials shot down the idea of holding an official climate debate earlier this week. This vote was separate and decided whether the party would change its rules to allow the candidates to participate in an unsanctioned, third-party debate without risking consequences. Protesters interrupted the meeting, shouting “We can’t wait” and “Failure of leadership,” according to the Mercury News.

The heat wave is higher than climate change models predicted
The water temperatures have breaking records at the same time as the air temperatures, according to Sue Mauger, the science director for the Cook Inletkeeper.
Scientists have been tracking stream temperatures around the Cook Inlet, located south of Anchorage, since 2002. They've never recorded a temperature above 76 degrees Fahrenheit. Until now.
On July 7, a major salmon stream on the west side of the Cook Inlet registered 81.7 degrees.
Mauger said she and her team published a study in 2016, creating models outlining moderate and pessimistic projections for how climate change would drive temperatures in Alaska's streams.
"2019 exceeded the value we expected for the worst-case scenario in 2069," she said.
Mauger said that the warm temperatures are affecting salmon in various ways, depending on the stream.
"Physiologically, the fish can't get oxygen moving through their bellies," Mauger said. In other places in the state, the salmon "didn't have the energy to spawn and died with healthy eggs in their bellies."

Link and video:
https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/16/us/alaska-salmon-hot-water-trnd/index.html